My Guardian
by LonelyFrostbite
Summary: He never seemed to fail to bring life in this world. He would laugh, he would smile and he lived. His days were not numbered but he pretended they were, his prediction being that he would live until he was eighteen. He would sometimes bring me in for a dance with no music. Just the whispers of giggles and laughs filling us inside. My love, your heart will stop when it desires to.


**"When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time." -Maya Angelou**

* * *

><p>"Rapunzel, you'll be okay. But you need to come out in a matter of minutes; be strong."<p>

The car door was shut, and the sunlight reflected on the blonde's black dress that brushed against her thighs every time she moved. A deep sigh escaped her lips and all she could do was re-read her speech in her mind, desperately trying to be what her mother told her to be: strong.

_..._

_He never seemed to fail to bring life in this world. He would laugh, he would smile and he lived. To have such passion about living, of being able to breathe was rare. You'd find a bit of that in others but Jack would cherish every moment he had to live for. The days were not numbered but he pretended they were. His prediction being that he would live until he was eighteen. _

_There was so much love he gave the world, that he gave to everyone without fail. Every time he would come home, there was no silence for there would be constant playing of upbeat music on the piano. Sometimes, he would even jump out of his piano bench and bring me in for a dance. It would just be the act of nature evolving around us, with no music. Just the whispers of giggles and laughs filling us inside. Making us feel like we are better people and that there is so much to live for. _

_Jack taught me that. And I don't think that "Thank you" are the right words to say. He doesn't deserve something that simple, in fact, no one does. He believed that there was no time for being grateful for his actions but to be grateful for your own doings. He was Jackson Overland. A guardian. A guardian who protected the fun in all of us. _

_My guardian.. you showed all of us the values of life, but you were taught doing so by the reality. If only that smile of his had lasted longer, he wouldn't have been stuck deep in his mess. If only he had stayed positive just a little longer. _

_Remembering that day is painful as it is. I remember when I got a phone call from an unknown number, and not hearing anything from Jack almost the whole day is the reason I had answered._

_You know that moment when you can't breathe because it feels like a force has shoved you in the chest knocking the air out of your lungs? That was my moment; no matter what I did, the air didn't want to enter inside. And that day I was sent to the hospital, where I was told I had another asthma attack. _

_Inhaling the air the oxygen mask provided, the words that had reached my ringing ears before the attack dawned to me. Jack had a car accident. _

_And something was wrong. _

_After a matter of minutes, I was released; I could see him, I thought. But if he was still alive, what was the worse that could happen? It was selfish of me, I knew the moment I entered his room. He was awake, his breaths were sharp and his eyes darted in every direction, frantically. _

She remembered how terrifying it was to see him that helpless.

He gasped, "Rapunzel?"

He wasn't looking at her.

"Yeah.." she said, reaching for his hand. "It's me, Jack."

But then, as the tip of her fingers lightly made contact with his pale skin, he had recoiled. That's when the panic began to sink in.

His breathing became rapid. "Rapunzel?! What's going on?!" he shrieked.

_ The doctors came in and restrained him against the hospital bed as one of the nurses injected him with some sort of fluid. _

"No! Stop it!" He had cried, struggling under their weight. "Rapunzel!"

_ He couldn't see me. _

_He couldn't see the doctors nor could he see the nurses. All he felt was the weight of the strong hands and the pain from the needle. He didn't know what was going on, he was desperately trying to look, hoping his eyes were shut. _

_Jack was blind. All he could see was darkness. _

_Darkness.._

_He hates the dark; the thing about the dark is that nothing else can pierce through the pigment. You'd think that light can but the darkness has its own space. A space meant for someone to see nothing, to be drowned in fear. And Jackson Overland got what he feared most: darkness.._

_Days later, after he was released from the hospital, things started to change. He didn't talk very often like he use to and when he did, it came out hoarse. He never once touched the piano again. Every time he came home, there was no upbeat music playing on the piano, there was silence. There was no laughs or giggles to fill us inside. Just silence. And how can someone who's laugh was contagious sit there and accept the_ silence?

"Rapunzel?" He had whispered to nothing.

It bothered her that he was facing the wrong direction, a gesture that screamed to accept the fact that he wasn't the same. She wanted all this to be a dream, she wanted to wake up and for this all to end. If it wasn't really a dream, then she couldn't wait until Jack would turn to her and tell out, JUST KIDDING! But he didn't, this was real.

"Yeah?" She asked hesitantly, scooting over to the direction that Jack was wrongly facing.

"I'm dying." He whispered, like it was a secret. "I told you before, didn't I? Only eighteen years of life was needed for me. This could be a sign!"

There was no point in arguing, they both knew she couldn't change his mind. His decisions were his, she knew, but it was okay he wasn't really dying. The next thing she asked came a surprise to both.

"Jack, when will my years of life end?"

His hands had gently found her shoulders, she was kneeling in his presence and he carefully knelt down before her as well. His fingertips brushing at the crook of her neck to move his hands at the back. She just stayed still unable to think a gesture of her own but then her fingers lightly touched his chin to turn his face to the right direction.

Sliding his hands down her arms to grasp her hands, he sighed.

"Rapunzel, I am so grateful to have met you. You are the most radiant star, who's light reflects on all of us. You have taught us that every aspect in the world are worth looking at, that its not just a feature," he stroked her cheek softly, "that it is what we live for."

"Jack.."

He smiled, oh how Rapunzel desperately missed it. "Your own doings, Rapunzel, is what filled me inside. It's the mistake of meeting you that completed me. It's the mistake of looking at you the way I didn't think I could.. _ my love,_ your heart will stop when it desires to.."

With that, he brought her delicate hands to his face and pressed his chapped lips upon her fingers. Her heart raced against her chest repeatedly as she felt her ears go hot. She allowed her emerald green eyes to stare at his colorless blue ones. They didn't shine like they use to, she didn't see the playfulness that use to sparkle in his eyes.

"Jack.. you're not blind."

With that, he allowed his lips to clumsily meet hers. It was a gesture that poured out the loss and the heart felt missing moments between one another, there had been plenty but there was still a charter left unfinished.

_ After a couple days, on March 15th, Jack was nowhere to be found. We thought he was being accompanied to a stroll outside the house, not to far away. Six o'clock in the evening and still no word from him. That's when everyone started to worry and we began to look for him. _

_It was that moment where I had an idea of what had happened. It was the feeling of having another asthma attack, where it didn't feel like I was breathing, but I was. Short breaths that were rushed. _

_I had an idea where he was, I just hoped he wasn't there. _

_And we found him. _

Rapunzel was hardly breathing, a force didn't knock the air out of her lungs, a force squeezed it out forcefully. It didn't even bother to leave a small breath to inhale before she collapsed. She couldn't move; she couldn't breathe.

Inhale and exhale, she told herself. But she couldn't.

This was no asthma attack; she could control her breathing, but why wouldn't she inhale? Had what she just seem cause her to control her mind to stop breathing? A wave of familiar faces crashed in to her vision, she was slowly fading away..

" Rapunzel no!" The voice sounded muffled.

"Inhale and exhale," she heard one of them say calmly. "That's it; inhale and exhale. You got this, come on!"

A supportive hand gripped her knee, and just when Rapunzel thought it was no use, she found herself coughing and inhaling violently. How can a mind make you do such a thing; how can it let itself fog up and stop working just because she commanded it to? How can such a thought ever cross her mind?

Her thoughts couldn't even drown the sound of sounds that filled her ringing ears. "Jack.." she finally whispered.

_ So, I guess this lead us here.. to Jack's funeral; the thought of him gone is worse than anything I have ever experienced. This was the change I have been afraid of most. Jack was someone special to all of us, he wasn't perfect but he was our Jack. And he always will be.. he was the one that'd lift your spirits, the one that would show you your center when you needed reminding. When had yet to realise his'. He would remind you the reason you're here to live and what made you so special. He thought of everyone but himself and I always stop to think, why would God put a miracle so suddenly on this earth and take it as fast as it came?_

_I guess the hardest part was telling his little sister.. Emma. She had recently turned nine last week.. how do you tell someone that young and innocent, that her own brother drowned himself in the lake they often played by in the spring? How do we tell her- every winter- that she is skating upon her brothers death? That it was his own doing. How? How can we?!_

_Jack.. my guardian- our guardian- the silence you have caused is here to haunt me._

_..._

No, she couldn't say that- she couldn't let her tongue spill something so personal. The things the others did not know is their secret.

She smoothed her black dress before brushing her tears, she hit the back of the front seat, repeatedly. Damn you Jack and your stupid beliefs!

She hesitantly opened the car door, the sunlight burned her watery eyes. Then it was just like that when she realized that she couldn't do this, this wasn't what Jack wanted, he would've never liked the idea of people mourning for him especially dressed in such color.

_"It's looks a bit too dark, don't you think?" _ he'd say.

He never really liked the dark, it had always been a scary thing to him. Jack didn't want this..and before she knew it, she was running away.

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><p>For over three months Rapunzel was prescribed to take depression pills every now and then. She visited his grave more than necessary; his long forgotten buried coffin. After her 6th visit, there was something was different. Afterwards, her mother would notice the smile on her face as she left the house.<p>

The wind was bitter cold tonight, sending a cold breeze in Rapunzel's direction, biting her face. She let out a giggle.

_"She claims she's been seeing things; that she's been seeing him." Her mother had reported to her doctor._

_Dr. Black looked at her, astonished, "Seeing things, ma'am?"_

_"A guardian." She whispered._

Rapunzel clumsily reached his stone, trying to catch her breath from the excitement. She looked up only to be staring into the eyes of her lover. "You made it!" She exclaimed wide eyed.

_"We must look at her prescription, immediately."_

A laugh escaped from his lips and ran away in the freezing cold, "Why must you doubt me so?"

She shrugged her fragile shoulders, her blonde locks covering her face, "I just thought you might have changed your mind."

"And why on earth would I do that?" He smirked.

_"Mrs. Corona, may I ask where your daughter is at this very moment?"_

_She gasped. The cemetery.._

Jack's hair practically blended with the snow, his features showed a sign of trouble but his smile reassured otherwise. He held out his hand, "You ready?"

_At the bottom, tiny words that read "side affects: hallucinations"_

Rapunzel nodded. And they both ran into the woods, hand in hand, disappearing out of sight.

...

_"Jack, when will my years of life end?" _

_"My love, your heart will stop when it desires to.."_


End file.
